(ELITE) The REALGAM Team

If Grimsley had known how the Pikachu would react, he might not have even tried talking it out. They slowly got to their feet, their green eyes piercing and mistrusting. "Y-you.." The Dark Trainer was aware of his Liepard tensing beside him as the feline’s green eyes narrowed at the Pikachu. She must have returned a moment ago, then. "Don't you touch him..!" Grimsley’s eyes widened slightly. Did they think he would capture the Umbreon? He may be Dark type master, but there was no way he would force a pokemon to join him.

While they were small, the Pikchu had a truly fierce look. Their green eyes were wild and their face wet with tears. "Don't you fucking dare touch him!" Nisha stepped forwards, her purple and yellow fur spiking slightly. Raising a hand, Grimsley placed it on the Liepard’s shoulder, silently telling the feline to relax. ”I am not one of those trainers who force their pokemon into submission. Those kinds of people don’t deserve to own a pokemon. A pokemon trainer can only have a maximum of six pokemon in their team, and I have a full team. Each of my pokemon are not forced to do anything, and we all have a strong bond of trust built up between us.” He started, his voice low and calm as he addressed Cinder.

”I have been a trainer for a few years, and Nisha can confirm, I have not done a thing to harm them, nor have I captured a pokemon against their will.” He said, sighing quietly. ”While I admit you probably have your reasons to mistrust me, I promise you I will not make any moves to harm you or anyone around here. I treat pokemon as equals and friends, not as tools.”

Nisha stepped forwards once more, her face more calm this time. ”I have been with Grimsley for about fifteen years, and in all that time he has never broken a promise. Whether you trust him or not, know that he is a kind trainer.” She said, rubbing her face against Grimsley’s shoulder, her green eyes watching the Umbreon as the Eeveelution stepped forwards.

"I do not need anyone to defend me," Their voice was scratchy and the words came out as a growl, but the Liepard knew that was just because they probably never spoke.  Leaning against her trainer, Nisha watched the Umbreon with a slightly narrowed stare. "Especially not crying Pokemon shouting for all in this place to hear."

That was a little harsh. Grimsley blinked, his icy gaze staying cool and level. ”That doesn’t mean you have to be so harsh about it, either.” He replied, his voice staying calm so as not to appear judgmental or hostile. He wanted to keep things civil, not to start a fight between everyone.

This was not going well! No, no no no no... "O- other Thomas! Don't let them fight!" The Porygon tried to ask the Umbreon for help, apprehension shimmering in his electronic eyes, but the normal type quickly turned back to the group from where he hovered, beside the Umbreon and behind Cinder. "Friends shouldn't fight!"
What the HELL is going on down there?! Stark silently growled, angrily flipping through papers with his newfound clawed fingers. Despite being careful to use his palms, still the sharp talons ripped through papers at times, but the Dragonite did not even care. "This is all useless," he muttered, his wings twitching. The group was suppose to find and retrieve Thomas, what was taking so long?
"Don't you fucking dare touch him!"
Well, that answered his question.
"Come on guys," he muttered, finally turning his large bulk to make it through the door and begin his way through the hallway.

The cat made an angry sound at the Pikeachu, causing Thomas to shy away, fear shining on his expressionless face. Please don't eat me!!
”I am not one of those trainers who force their pokemon into submission,” the human started, his calm voice managing to calm the normal type down enough to peek from behind Thomas #2.
”I have been a trainer for a few years, and Nisha can confirm, I have not done a thing to harm them, nor have I captured a pokemon against their will. While I admit you probably have your reasons to mistrust me, I promise you I will not make any moves to harm you or anyone around here. I treat pokemon as equals and friends, not as tools.”

Stark was approaching the group, his expression hard but not aggressive, as the Liepard stepped forward, managing to catch her words. ”I have been with Grimsley for about fifteen years, and in all that time he has never broken a promise. Whether you trust him or not, know that he is a kind trainer.”
What was going on?
"I do not need anyone to defend me." A new voice? The Dragonite finally reached the others, standing beside the trainer and behind the others. His bulk proved intimidating but his mouth frowned, piecing together the situation.
”That doesn’t mean you have to be so harsh about it, either,” Grimsley chimed in, voice level.

The dragon glanced down to Cinder, his eyes sharpening at the distress clear on her face. "Okay-- everyone needs to chill out. Give Boss some space; step back, go down the hall, guys. Don't crowd her. What happened?" Maroon eyes ran over the Umbreon, his displeasure with the Pikachu and her defensive stance. "Be you friend or foe?"

Nausea gripped deep in the Pikachu's stomach. She was overdoing it, and would likely collapse, or vomit, or cry, or all at once. No shit. It was too late to back down though, her emotional rollercoster had been set loose and she would hold true to her convictions even if it killed her. ”I am not one of those trainers who force their pokemon into submission. Those kinds of people don’t deserve to own a pokemon. A pokemon trainer can only have a maximum of six pokemon in their team, and I have a full team. Each of my pokemon are not forced to do anything, and we all have a strong bond of trust built up between us.”

Grimsley gave his little spiel but it only caused the rodents growling to get louder. "Oh fuck off." She spits vehemently, saliva strings on her teeth. That was a load of total bullshit if she had ever heard one. Six may of been the limit but they could still catch more. She'd seen it, it was real. He was lying right to her face. Panting, she tries to get enough breath to continue, "You fucking human bitches.. always thinking you own the godsdamned world and everything in it!" No respect.. they had no respect even now the human wasn't backing off when any sane creature would. ”I have been a trainer for a few years, and Nisha can confirm, I have not done a thing to harm them, nor have I captured a pokemon against their will. While I admit you probably have your reasons to mistrust me, I promise you I will not make any moves to harm you or anyone around here. I treat pokemon as equals and friends, not as tools.”

Trust.. no, no it wasn't trust at all. "Trust.. you know nothing." Humans. Godsdamned ignorant bastards, all of them! His pet spoke in his defense, but it was nothing but a brainwashed minion. All of them were nothing but Stockholms examples and she wouldn't let that happen to any Umbreon. The Pikachu tried to let out a frustrated roar but the sound caught in her throat and fell as no more then a diseased animals ragged gurgle. With a hard, raspy cough the mouse staggers a step forward, giving the roar she wished along with a bolt of electricity before the human and its toy. "Of course you'd say that! Man and its pet, side by fucking side."

They were all like this, weren't they? Humans stole Pokemon from their mothers, imprinted on the young, and raised them to think of fights as glorious. They captured what they wanted from the wild and took them from their families. Eventually the Pokemon may enjoy the chance to explore the world but they can never go home, they would never be free without being a 'failure.' They would always be slaves.

Grinding her teeth the Pikachu narrows her eyes further. Im glad your kind is going extinct. One of her arms buckles, shakily heavily as she is forced to put her weight on her other legs. Black splotches appear at the corners of her vision but Cinder forces them away with a hard blink. She would not falter.. not yet, not now. Something catches Cinderchu's green gaze and she dares to look past the human. Stark's large orange form was easily recognizable and fast approaching. Yes, yes he could settle his bullshit mess. He could send this asshole packing with all his little minions then- An unfamiliar voice spoke too close for comfort, making the Pikachu flinch, her sparks cutting out. Had it not been its location she would of ignored it after a quick look, irrelevant to her personal fight, but it was coming straight from where the Umbreon was standing (and was clearly not [Porygon] Thomas).

"I do not need anyone to defend me." Shocked, she flips to face him, "Yeah but you know tha-" but her very sentence dies upon looking at the Umbreon's face. It's features were.. painfully different from what she wanted. She knew it wasn't him, that was old news already, but every fucking reminder was just too damn painful. "But he was.." How could she even argue with him? She didn't know him and he didn't know her plight. To him she was probably just some rat who had a breakdown and gone crazy. No, its noble! Im saving him from- "Especially not crying Pokemon shouting for all in this place to hear."

...Ouch. Holding the Umbreon's gaze for a couple moments Cinderspark looks away when she feels fresh tears bulging in her green eyes, heart breaking even further. It wasn't her fault she was a crier.. and did stupid shit whenever she got like this. Really, it wasn't..! Speaking toward the floor her voice falls soft as the droplets fall to the floor, "You don't choose your heroes." You know, she had at least put the human off the idea of capturing him. He could of said thanks but no need, or nothing at all instead of basically saying her actions were worthless and emasculate her. I was just trying to help..

Again her arm shakes with weakness, her ragged breath making the black spots larger. She was losing it.. the anxiety was fading to painful clarity and her energy with it. As the anger left the Pikachu's form she can't fight the weakness in her limbs and falls on her elbow. With a gasp and sharp breath in through clenched teeth Cinderchu carefully pushed her way onto her hindpaws. Both her ears fell low to her skull and her tail plopped against the ground. Running one paw across her face Cinderchu tries to regain herself but it does not help. In the process she bumped the charm on her collar, the light clink sound sending a cold wash through her body.

By now Stark had made it up to everyone had seen how she.. threw everything for a loop. "Okay-- everyone needs to chill out. Give Boss some space; step back, go down the hall, guys. Don't crowd her. What happened?" The Pikachu's eyes were still on the floor, shame starting to burn hot in her pelt while her bones felt icy cold. She swayed on her paws, body heavy. There as no way she could handle seeing disappointment, disappointment in her, in Stark's eyes. How could she even explain herself without going allll the way back? To say those things in front of everyone...

Swallowing heavily the Pikachu sniffles. Her eyes large and pleading and she forces herself to look at Stark. Hopefully he wouldn't be too harsh in his judgement since it was truly a really complicated situation.. She swayed a bit more, forepaws bundling together at her chest while her shoulders rolled in. "I.. there was.. this Umbreon..?" There was no way she could explain properly and the hollowness to her words showed it, "You can't trust the human.." Stark must of been exauhsted with her, as he asked the dark type, "Be you friend or foe?"

The Pikachu gasps with another fresh wave of anxiety. "Friend, please!" She tried to take a step closer to the Dragonite, paws extended, and instantly slumped to the side upon realizing how weak she was. Stark wouldn't send him away, would he!? Sure, she had kinda.. completely lost it and made a total fool of herself and almost attacked a human but that was no reason to take it out on the Umbrie impostor! Her heart couldn't take that.. it just couldn't..

”That doesn’t mean you have to be so harsh about it, either.”

The human's response gains Tom's attention; he meets the man's cold gaze with one of his own. What was this one yammering on about? If that is the human's definition of harsh, then they do not truly understand the meaning of harsh. Perhaps their skin was so thin that a mere declaration truth was enough to sting, and if that is the case, Tom will regret having ever stepped a foot in this direction. Groups were truly more trouble than they were worth at this point, if he cannot speak without it being interpreted as some crude insult. "I was not being harsh."
To his continuing misfortune, the Pikachu was reacting even worse than the human, barely able to stutter out a few words to him before looking away. There is no stirring of pity in Tom's chest; this was mere weakness and a shameful display, nothing more. He catches her soft-spoken words: "You don't choose your heroes." Heroes...now that is foolish idealism. There's no such things as heroes, only survivors, and the reanimated ones. "You do not even know me," Tom retorts. This was a truth that could not possibly hurt, for it was undeniable; this Cinder has not learned his name, and knows nothing about his life. She does not know about his human. She was attempting to protect a tool to be used, not some abstract idea of a white-coated saviour.

At the same time the Pikachu is struggling again to bring herself up off the floor, a new face has shown itself, this one an immense orange-scaled dragon. "Okay-- everyone needs to chill out. Give Boss some space; step back, go down the hall, guys. Don't crowd her. What happened?" Boss...? Why in the lowliest of hells was the Electric-type the one in charge? Tom would have expected the powerful dragon to be leading them instead, due to the natural strength of Pokemon with such a typing. The flying beast turns to him, maroon eyes locking with Tom's own. "Be you friend or foe?" That was an odd question, leaving little room for anything other than black or white. Tom is a guardian, a protector, so where does that leave him? "Friend, please!" Cinder was practically begging towards the Dragonite, so perhaps she really was not the one in control of this group. Good. That was a little reassuring for him; it meant the group couldn't be entirely feeble. Maybe they have a chance of surviving whatever was in this dreadful place.
"I am not your foe," Tom states plainly, unflinching in the face of a Pokemon several times his own size. He was not about to call himself their friend, but an enemy he was certainly not.

Grimsley sighed inwardly when he caught on that his words were not helping things in the slightest. He knew that sometimes, there was no way to prove your point unless you actually physically demonstrated your point. Maybe that would be what he would have to do here. "Oh fuck off." Grimsley could feel Nisha's quiet growl as the purple cat lent up against him, curling her tail around his back. Raising a hand, the trainer scratched the fur between the cat's shoulders, a silent message to tell her to calm down. The feline sucked in a deep breath, leaning her shoulder against Grimsley as she kept her eyes on the growling rodent.

"You fucking human bitches.. always thinking you own the godsdamned world and everything in it!" Grimsley blinked, taken slightly aback. The venom in the Pikachu's words was something that Grim' had heard only a select few times, which was what mainly took the trainer by surprise. Had something happened in their past that made them this hostile to him? He then looked up at the Umbreon. That's when their mood had shifted, so maybe – Ah. Perhaps Boss has, or had an Umbreon companion, and therefore that protective streak extends to all Umbreons? He could see why they were so hostile towards him, if Boss had figured out he was a Dark Type trainer.

"Trust.. you know nothing." Nisha tensed up again, her purple fur bristling slightly as the Pikachu let out a strange gurgle that could almost be mistaken for a rabid snarl. The Liepard's green eyes looked over the Pikachu, checking for any discoloration, but her check came up showing the electric mouse as clean. That was one hell of a snarl they had going on there for a healthy pokemon. "Of course you'd say that! Man and its pet, side by fucking side." Nisha's fur bristled again as the cat took a small step forwards, her eyes narrowing. ”For your information, Grimsley saved my life. I was starving on the goddamn streets before he found me. So how about you hold yo-”
”Nisha. Please, stop.”

The Liepard turned her head to stare at Grimsley in surprise. ”But they're...” She started, but Grimsley just shook his head, petting Nisha's purple and yellow fur and giving the Liepard a small smile. ”It's fine. The Boss won't change her mind, it seems. I'm fine, honest.”  He said, and the Liepard nodded, rubbing her face against his hand, a silent answer from the cat as she walked behind Grimsley, drawing up on his left side as the trainer stood up, giving way so that Stark could approach the gathered group.

"Okay-- everyone needs to chill out. Give Boss some space; step back, go down the hall, guys. Don't crowd her. What happened?" Moving around Stark, Grimsley stood just behind the Dragonite, leaning against a wall with his arms lightly crossed as he kept his icy gaze on the pokemon that had gathered around both the Porygon Thomas and the Umbreon Thomas.

"I.. there was.. this Umbreon..?" The Boss started, but her words sounded hollow, and they soon trailed off, unable to find the words, he presumed. "You can't trust the human.." With a quiet sigh, Grimsley fished out his notebook and pencil from his bag, pinning the flashlight on his shoulder by placing the strap of the bag over it so that the light shone on the page he had open, illuminating it. Lazily sketching lines through the paper, Grimsley half listened to the conversation as he drew non-linear patterns on the paper, writing a few words him his own shorthand as simple notes from the area around him. He usually kept journals like this, with the words hidden in the images, written in  shorthand writing.

"Be you friend or foe?" Lifting his eyes from the paper, Grim' watched as the Pikachu gasped, their green eyes shining with anxiety. "Friend, please!" They went to take a step, and the trainer's eyes widened in concern as the electric mouse slumped to their side, their strength spent.

"I am not your foe," Looking up at the Umbreon, Grimsley sketched a few more notes in his book, before closing the book and placing it with the pencils back into his bag. Taking the flashlight from his shoulder, Grimsley turned it off and put it in a pocket for quick access later. He then hummed quietly to himself as he listened to the others converse.

Cinder gasped loudly at his simple question, fear and panic in her eyes as she stared up at the Dragonite as if he suggested cutting her own tail off. "Friend, please!" Boss begged, earning a concerned look from Stark.
"Don't worry," he tempted to soothe her, but the Pikachu's strength seemed to of all gone into that singular explanation. The electric type attempted to stand and instead half fell, having no energy to keep herself up properly. His instinct was to reach down and hold the Pikachu up with one claw, but the Umbreon still had yet to respond to him.

The dark type was expressionless, not able to be read by the dragon, and his maroon eyes narrowed as he watched the vulpine. He stepped forward, stating simply, "I am not your foe."

Straight forward enough.

Stark nodded, standing to his full height again from the half crouch he did not realise he had taken. "Alright. I expect no trouble from you, then. If you need a group, the more the merrier, but just keep an eye out--" The Dragonite's eyes went round as saucers as the single thing he was about to warn about literally popped in. A hissing Claydol teleported into the middle of the group as his voice became a high pitched yelp. "--teleporting 'mons!"

Stark raised his fists, tail poised behind him as he prepared to catapult the thing with a dragon tail. Pushing between the thing and the nearest member of the group, Stark's claws gripped the undead just as it vanished in a sparkly light. Taking the Dragonite with it.

Cinder's heart pounded against her rib cage. It took several hard, laborious seconds to struggle back to her shaking paws, her breath coming in pants. Please no.. She looks up and tires to catch the Umbreon's gaze. You can't send him away.. But when she does its not the silver shimmer she knows. The red spheres don't have the familiar warmth she craved or any look of remembrance. They were cold and dark, a world apart. "I am not your foe," The dark type breaths, its words relieving but its voice reflective of its eyes. An heavy puff of air expels from her lungs, the closest thing to a relief sigh she can manage through her panting.

Stark gives a nod, accepting the answer. "Alright. I expect no trouble from you, then. If you need a group, the more the merrier, but just keep an eye out--" There is a blink, a spine chilling sound that cuts into the Dragonite's words. A vhhtt noise as something appears followed by a terrifying hiss. "--teleporting 'mons!" It was a Pokemon Cinder had never seen before, its undead status clear, and its cry was piercing her delicate ears.  

Stark reacts before she does, grabbing the creature in his sturdy claws. Oh god no! A heartbeat passes before panic sets in- they were being attacked! Without thinking electricity builds in her fur and shoots upward toward the Claydol, but in that same second it vanishes. The bolt passes through empty air it but finds its way to a light that was hanging above them, exploding it with a loud pop and a shower of sparks and glass. The Pikachu flinches, surprised, and falls over once more. Though she's quick to recover there is no further attacks as she realizes... "S.. S-Stark?" Where was the Dragonite? He was just there and dragons don't just disappear. Frantically flipping her head around Cinderchu searches for Stark's orange hide. "Stark!?" She wails, voice growing shrill as she does not see him.

This couldn't be happening. She couldn't stand to lose him too, she just can't. Where did they go!? They couldn't of gotten far.. he had to still be nearby and needed help! She looks at the three paths- surely the undead had to of used one. Grimsley blocked one and the Umbreon the another. There was only one open path. Falling to all fours the Pikachu breaks into a uneven run, her strength little and legs threatening to fail. "Stark!!" Cinder hollers, her objective all that was in her mind. For a quick second Thomas' scent hits her again. Was she abandoning the Umbreon..? No.. no he would be okay, she just had to find Stark first. She would be back to keep the Umbrie and Tristana safe as soon as she knew the dragon was okay... "Stark..!" She keeps crying for all to hear, her voice growing fainter as she vanishes down the unknown halls.